Flying-machine.



@E WHT G. DORE/IAN,

ELYIHG BMCHUIEt PPLIQATIUM frm-"1D DB0. 21, 1908.

mama sept. 21, 1909.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

glu/:venian @wi tu @osea DE WTT C. DORMAN FLYING MACHINE. APPLmAToNFILED DBO, 21, 190e.

. DE .WITT C. DORMAN, F MINOT', NORTH DAKOTA.

FLYING-MACHINE.

'specification of Letters Patent.

lPatented Sept. 2t. 1909.

' Application led December 21, 1908. Serial No. 468,593

-ing a novel arrangement of lifting fans arranged to revolve onhorizontal axes and so mounted as to be capable of feathering, so thatlon the downward stroke the flat vfaces of the Afan blades will operateto. force the machine upward While on the upwardv portion of the strokethe blades will be presented edgewise fortravel through the air.

A 'further object of the invention is to` arrange the fans in pairs, thefans of each pair being arranged to rotate in oppositer directions,respectively, so that the lifting force will be equalized and'anytendency to lateral movement Willbe corrected.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a novel form ofsteering mechanism in Which a combined steering and propellingwheelorfan is arranged at one end of the machine and is mounted in a pivotedsupport so connected to a steering Wheel as to permitmovement in eitherdirection t'or the purpose of directing the course of' travel of themachine. l l

With these and other objects in View, as will more :fully hereinafterappear, the invention consists in certain novel features of constructionand arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described, illustrated inthe accompanying drawings. and particularly pointed out in the appendedclaims, it being'l understood that various changes in the form,proportions. size and minor details of the structure may be made Withoutdeparting from the spirit or sacrificing any of the ad'- vantagcs ofthei-nvention.

In the accompanying drawings z-Figure 1 is a side elevation of a iiyingmachine constructed in accordance with the invention, a portion of themechanism being shown in section. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the machine.Figs. 34 and t'are detail views of the mounting ofthe lifting fanblades. Fig. 5 isa longitudinal section illustrating the constructidn.and mzountii'ig of the steering device.- Fig. 6 is a view showing thedriving mechanism for one' of the groups of lift' ing propellers, andFig. 7 is a View illnstrat-ing the mechanism shown in Fig. il but on a.larger scale.

Similar numerals of-referonre are employed to indicate corresl'iondingparts throughout. the several figures of the. drawings.

As shown in the accompanying drawings, a flying machine embodying theinvention comprises in part a suitable frame. from the upper portion ofwhich extend radialliv dis A posed bearing sleeves .thcrebeingpreferably four of such bearings extend ing from the fra i ne atequidistant points. lonrnaled in each of these bearing sleeves is atubular shaft T, and extending through each of the tubular shafts is ashaft 8. The outer end of each shaft is supported in a bearing of theconstruction more specifically'cescrihed hereinafter. and which islocated-at a point about mid-way of the. end. of one' side of arect-angular frame tl that is clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. Agear wheel 10 -is fixed on the inner end of each tubular shaft 7 and agear wheel 11 is fixed on the inner end of each shaft S. These gearsintermesh, respectively. with annular racks 12 and 13, the former beingcarried hy a wheel 12 that is arranged in a plane above? the shafts 7and 8, while the rack 13 is carried by a ring 13 that is disposed in aplane below the gears ll. Itfwill be umlerstoiid that upon rotation ofthe rings, the .shafts T and 8 will he rotated in opposite directions.Supported by suitable hangers 15 from lla-e upper frame is a platform.16. upon which is mounted a motor 17 which may be in the form of aninternal combustion'engine. The main shaft 18 of the motor carries abevel gear 19 intermeshing with a gear at the lower end of a verticalcounter-shaft 30. At the upper end of the shaft 20 isa pair of pinions21 which-are in mesh with annular racks` 22 formed on the inner edges ofthe rings 12 and 13', it being understood that power from the engine istransmitted by Way of the shaft 20 to the rings andfrom thence. throughthe racks 12 and 13 'to the gears of the shafts T and 8. ln order topermit ready `starting of the motor,- and to permit. operation of thefans in case of stoppage of the motor, the shaft 18 carries a sprocketwheel Q3 thatl is connected to a sprocket Wheel 21- on tht` crank shaft25 by means of a link belt 26. The crank shaft 25 is journaled in asuitable bearing 27 arranged at th'e lower portion of a. f 'ame 2S whichcarries a suitable seat or Y struction has coaster brakes may be empoyed in the conneet-ion between the main shaft of the engine and thepedal crank shaft, but this mechanf ism being of well known and.ordinary connot been illustrated in the drawings. o

Secured from the shafts 7 and 8, respectively, ai-'e fan hubs 30 and 31,and to these are pivoted the inner ends 0f thestems of fan blades 32,saidblades being formed of any suitable'material. It is Yintended thatthe'blades carried by the two hubs shall rotate in opposition and thatwhen a flat face of one blade of one of the hubs is presented toward thesurface of the ground, the blade upon the other hub passing the firstmentioned blade will be feathered or turned edgewise, this being clearlyillustrated-in F ig. 1 of the drawing. In order that the blades may beproperly feathered as above described, a pair of cams' 33 and 34 areemployed in connection with each pair of fans. The zinner cam 34 isprovided with two cam i faces 36, while the' outer cam 33 has a singlecam face 36. This outer cam member 33 is rigidly secured to therectangular frame 9, while the inner cam member 3'4 is supported bybrace rods 35 which are secured at one end to the frame 9 and at theopposite end to the cam,'these rods beingso bent as to pass betweenthetwo fans without danger of contact-with the fan blades.

vstationary cams, and as the arms approach the larger portions of saidcams the blades 'will be turned, so as topres'enttheir edges to thesurface of thev ground, the'blades being held in this position'duringapproximately halfa revolution, or that portion of the revolution onthe-up-.stroke or ascending `side of the fan, but after passing beyondthe vertical plane ofthe shaft axis, the blades will beturned so as topresent their flat faces to the surface of the ground, and 'during thisdown stroke, or on the descending side of the fan, the blades becmeeffective for lifting purposes, and as the blades are evenly d1stributedaround.v the entire frame and are of exactly the same area, and travelat uniform points, andthe machine will rise in a vertical ane. l

portion 41 which may be integral with or secured to the adjacent tubularbearing 6, and veach of the bracketsis formed adjacent its point ofconnection with the hanger with bracket-40 also includes a portion 45which extends from the body portion 41 inwardly,

above the ring 12 and has journaled at its inner extremity a roller 46,which travels between the body portion of said ring, and an overhangingframe 47formed thereon.

A pair of rollers 48 are journa-led on the portions 45-of this bracketand these rollers receive between them the outerI ends of the .ring 12,so that the lattcrwill be held from displacement, but may rotate freelyfor the purpose of transmitting movement yto the tubular shafts 7.

In order to provide means for steering the machine, one of the shafts 87preferably that one at the front ofthe machine, is tubu` lar in form, asshown in Fig. 5.

bevel gears 49 and shafts 58 to a hand wheel -57 that is disposedimmediately in front of the seat or saddle and whichv may be turned forthe purpose of directing the course of the machine, as hereinafterdescribed.

Extending through the hollow-shaft- 49 is a shaft 50, the inner'end ofwhich' is connected in any suitable manner to the countenshaft 20, thetwo shafts being shown in the present instance as provided with beltpulleys connected by a suitable driving belt- 51. The shaft 50 is formedof two sections con` nected by a flexible portion 52 andthe outersection lissupported in a small frame 53 that 'is pivoted to the outerend of a bracket 54 carried'by a fixed portion of the frame, the pivotalconnection between vthe shaft sup` porting frame andbracket being intheverso that the latter willbe held from Extending through this tubularshaft is' a hollow shaft l y49,.the inner end of which is connected bytical plane of the flexible section 52 of the porting frame 53, to oneside or the other, the

fan maybe utilized in directing thecourse' of the vesselto the right orleft as desired.

The outer portion of the tubular shaft 49 is provided with right andleft hand screw threads as indicated at 60, 61, and these engage theopenings formed in a pair of slidable blocks 62, 63 mounted in suitableguiders Secured to or formed integral with each will be seen that byturning the shaft 49 in one direction or the other, the two blocks 62and by thus changinof and 63 may be turned toward or from each other,and this vmovement will be imparted through the rod -65 to the frame 53,thereby turning the latter either to the right or'left the angle of thefan, the course of the macthine will be controlled.

In addition to the fans 57, an auxiliary l propelling fan 69 may beemployed at the rear end of the machine said fan being .10 mounted on asuitable shaft 70 geared or otherwise connected to the motor, as shown.

What is claimed is zl. In a flying machine, a frame, horizontallydisposed shafts radiating from the frame, fan blades carried by theshafts,

means for feathering the blades, gears carried by the shafts, andannular racks intermeshing with all of the gears. I .2. In a flyingmachine, a frame, radially disposed shafts carried by the frame, fan

blades mounted on the shafts, gears carried by the shafts, a platform'supported by the frame, a pair of spaced rings arranged above and belowthe gears, annular racks carried 2 by said rings and intermeshing withthe gears, and means upon the platform for ro tating such rings.

3. In a flying machine, a frame, horizontally disposed radial shaftssupported thereby, gears at the inner ends of the shafts, a

- pair of-rings arranged above and below said gears, annular rackscarried by the rings and intermeshing with the gears to effect rotativemovement of the shafts in different directions, a platform supported bythe frame, a motor on said platform, and a gearing connection betweensaid motor and the rings. A

4. In machine of the class described, an

40 outer rectangular frame, an inner frame in-v cluding a plurality ofspaced brackets, tubular bearing sleeves supported by the brackets, camssupported by the outen rectangular frame, auxiliary brace rods extendingfrom the rectangular frame to the innermost of the cams, a hollow shaftextending through each of the bearings, a fan hub on said hl l- -lowshaft, feathering blades carried bythe hub and arranged to engage one ofthe cams, an inner shaft extending through the hollow shaft, a -hubcarried by the inner shaft, feathering blades carried by the inner huband arranged to engage the outermost cam,

gears on both shafts, a pair of upper andy lower rings supported by thebrackets, antifriction rollers carried by the brackets and with whichthe rings engage, annular racks carried by the rings and intermeshingwith the gears, and means for rotating said rings.

5. In a flying machine, having lifting fans, horizontally disposedconcentric shafts supporting said lifting fans, a steering shaftextending through the innermost of the fan shafts, a driving shaftextending through shaft, a hollowl steering shaft surrounding,

the propeller shaft, the steeringshaft being provided with right andleft hand threads, slide blocks having threaded openings to receive saidthreads, and connections between the slide blocks and the bracket.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto ailixedmy slgnature in the presence of two witnesses. y

DE WITT C. DoRMAN.

Witnesses:

lRonnnr H. BROAD,

E. E. HANYEN.

